Mobile rack

ABSTRACT

A mobile rack includes a fixed bracket, a tray, a movable element, and a guiding groove. The tray is capable of being slidingly extracted from or inserted into the fixed bracket, and an elastic element is disposed between the fixed bracket and the tray. In one embodiment, one end of the movable element is disposed at an inner side of the fixed bracket, and the other end has a protrusion. The guiding groove is disposed at an outer side of the tray facing to the protrusion and has a protrudent unit and a track surrounding the protrudent unit. The protrudent unit has a first guiding portion and a stopping portion. The protrusion is inserted into the track.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to Taiwan Application Serial Number 97121582, filed Jun. 10, 2008, which is herein incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a mobile rack and, more particularly, to a mobile rack facilitating extracting or inserting thereof.

2. Description of the Related Art

With the development of portable disk drives, to exchange the needed data quickly, many users only need take an extractable disk drive and install the extractable disk drive on a machine.

Conventionally, machines mostly adopt locking devices in cooperation with extractable disk drives. To extract an extractable disk drive from the machine, one hand of a user presses a releasing button of the locking device to release the extractable disk drive, and the other hand extracts the extractable disk drive. However, according to the above design, a certain space on the machine has to be occupied, and two hands of the user are needed to extract the extractable disk drive. Similarly, the outer surface of the extractable disk drive has a dragging element. When the user is to extract the extractable disk drive from the machine, he or she uses the dragging element of the extractable disk drive to extract the extractable disk drive from the machine.

However, considering the convenience of detaching and assembling the extractable disk drive, flatness and smoothness of the surface of the machine or the disk drive, or the material cost of the accessory (the button or the dragging element), the mechanism of detaching and assembling the extractable disk drive in the conventional machine still can be improved.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention provides a mobile rack including a fixed bracket, a tray, a movable element, and a guiding groove. The fixed bracket has a containing part. The tray is disposed in the containing part for carrying an object, and it is capable of being slidingly extracted from or inserted into the containing part. At least one elastic element is connected between the fixed bracket and the tray. The movable element and the guiding groove correspond to each other and can be exchangeably disposed at the fixed bracket or the tray. The movable element is disposed at one surface of the fixed bracket and the tray and has a protrusion. The guiding groove is disposed at the other surface of the fixed bracket and the tray and opposite the movable element. The guiding groove includes a protrudent unit and a track. The protrusion is inserted into the track and slides along the protrudent unit. The protrudent unit has a first guiding portion and a stopping portion.

When the tray is pushed to be inserted into the containing part, the elastic element is compressed and deformed to store a restoring force, and the protrusion driven by the movable element slides along the first guiding portion and the inner wall of the guiding groove and be against the stopping portion to stop the elastic element releasing the restoring force.

When the tray is pulled to be extracted from the containing part, the protrusion driven by the movable element leaves away from the stopping portion to make the elastic element release the restoring force. Thus, the tray is extracted from the containing part.

In one preferred embodiment of the invention, one end of the movable element may be pivotally connected to an inner side of the fixed bracket, and the guiding groove may be disposed at an outer side of the tray. At that moment, the first guiding portion may be at one end of the protrudent unit away from an opening of the containing part. When the tray is inserted into the containing part, the first guiding portion may drive one end of the movable element having the protrusion to rotate toward a first direction. The first guiding portion may be a convex corner of the protrudent unit protruding toward the direction away from the opening of the containing part. The stopping portion may be at one end of the protrudent unit adjacent to the opening of the containing part. The stopping portion may be a concave corner of the protrudent unit recessed toward the direction away from the opening of the containing part.

In another embodiment of the invention, when the movable element may be pivotally connected to an outer side of the tray, and the guiding groove may be disposed at an inner side of the fixed bracket, the stopping portion may be at one end of the protrudent unit away from the opening of the containing part, and the first guiding portion may be at one end of the protrudent unit adjacent to the opening of the containing part.

In addition, to make the tray slide smoothly, one surface of the fixed bracket parallel to the sliding direction of the tray has at least one long opening. The tray has a protrudent pole corresponding to the long opening. Thus, when the tray slides in the containing part, each protrudent pole passes through the corresponding long opening and slides along the long opening to successfully guide the tray in sliding.

To sum up, the mobile rack of the invention can facilitate extracting or inserting the object on the tray without the dragging element or the locking device. The structure is simply, and it is convenient for users to operate the mobile rack.

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded diagram of a mobile rack according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a reference diagram showing the operation of extracting a tray from a fixed bracket according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a guiding groove of a mobile rack according to a preferred embodiment of the invention; and

FIGS. 4A-4J are exploded diagrams showing positions of a protrusion moving in a track when a tray is slidingly extracted from or inserted into a containing part according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a mobile rack. FIG. 1 is an exploded diagram of a mobile rack according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2 is a reference diagram showing the operation of extracting a tray 20 from a fixed bracket 10 according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. A mobile rack 1 applied to a machine (such as a desktop computer, a notebook computer, or a server and so on) includes a fixed bracket 10, a tray 20, a movable element 30, and a guiding groove 40. The fixed bracket 10 is fixed to the machine and has a containing part 11 for containing the tray 20. The tray 20 is used for carrying an object 21 and, more particularly, for carrying a disk unit (such as an optical disk drive or a hard disk drive). The tray 20 can be slidingly extracted from the containing part 11 to help a user extract the disk unit, or it can be slidingly inserted into the containing part 11 to help the user insert the disk unit. At least one elastic element 50 (such as a tension spring or a compression spring) is disposed between the fixed bracket 10 and the tray 20.

In addition, the movable element 30 and the guiding groove 40 correspond to each other and can be exchangeably disposed at the fixed bracket 10 or the tray 20, respectively. One end of the movable element 30 is pivotally connected to one of the fixed bracket 10 and the tray 20, and the other end is a free end. The movable element 30 has a protrusion 31 at a place facing to the guiding groove 40, and it can sway to and fro. The guiding groove 40 is a recessed region and has an independent protrudent unit 41. A track 42 is formed between an inner wall 400 of the guiding groove and the protrudent unit 41. The protrusion 31 of the movable element 30 can be inserted into the track 42 and slide along the track 42. Two opposite ends of the protrudent unit 41 have at least a first guiding portion 410 and a stopping portion 414, respectively. In addition, the inner wall 400 of the guiding groove still has a plurality of guiding surfaces to guide the protrusion 31 in sliding. The guiding surfaces of the inner wall 400 of the guiding groove are described hereinbelow in detail.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the guiding groove 40 of the mobile rack according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. When a user pushes the tray 20 to make the tray 20 and the disk unit inserted into the containing part 11, the elastic element 50 is compressed and deformed to store a restoring force. At that moment, the end of the movable element 30 having the protrusion 31 rotates around the end pivotally connected to the fixed bracket 10, to make the protrusion 31 move along the protrudent unit 41 in the track 42. Further, via the first guiding portion 410 and a part of guiding surfaces, the protrusion 31 slides along the first guiding portion 410 until being against the stopping portion 414 to stop the elastic element 50 restoring deformation further to store the restoring force.

When the user is to extract the disk unit in the containing part 11, he or she pushes die tray 20 toward the containing part 11. At that moment, the protrusion 31 leaves away from the stopping portion 414 to make the elastic element 50 release the restoring force. Via guiding of the stopping portion 414 and the other parts of guiding surfaces in the guiding groove 40, the end of the movable element 30 having the protrusion 31 rotates around the end pivotally connected to the fixed bracket 10. Thus, the protrusion 31 moves along the track 42 and returns to the first guiding portion 410 by the restoring force to make the tray 20 extracted from the containing part 11.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the fixed bracket 10 may include a U-shaped cover 13 and a plate 15 to form a hollow space as the containing part 11. One end of the movable element 30 may be pivotally connected to the inner side of the U-shaped cover 13. Thus, the end of the movable element 30 having the protrusion 31 can rotate around the end pivotally connected to the fixed bracket 10.

When the movable element 30 is pivotally connected to the inner side of the U-shaped cover 13, the guiding groove 40 is integrally formed at the outer surface of the tray 20 facing to the protrusion 31. The first guiding portion 410 is at the end of the protrudent unit 41 away from the opening of the containing part 11, and it may be a convex corner of the protrudent unit 41 protruding toward the direction away from the opening of the containing part 11. The stopping portion 414 of the protrudent unit 41 is at the end of the protrudent unit 41 adjacent to the opening of the containing part 11, and it may be a concave corner of the protrudent unit 41 recessed toward the direction away from the opening of the containing part 11.

Since the movable element 30 and the guiding groove 40 can be exchangeably disposed at the fixed bracket 10 or the tray 20, respectively, in another embodiment of the invention, one end of the movable element 30 can be pivotally connected to the outer side of the tray 20. Thus, the end of the movable element 30 having the protrusion 31 can rotate around the end pivotally connected to the fixed bracket 10. The guiding groove 40 is integrally formed at the inner side of the fixed bracket 10. The first guiding portion 410 of the protrudent unit 41 is at the end of the protrudent unit 41 adjacent to the opening of the containing part 11, and it may be a convex corner of the protrudent unit 41 protruding toward the direction adjacent to the opening of the containing part 11. The stopping portion 414 of the protrudent unit 41 is at the end of the protrudent unit 41 away from the opening of the containing part 11, and it may be a concave corner of the protrudent unit 41 recessed toward the direction adjacent to the opening of the containing part 11. Therefore, according to the description of the guiding groove 40 in FIG. 3, the features in another embodiment can be obtained by conversion from the FIG. 1.

The convex corner in the above embodiments can be formed by a first lateral surface 412 and a second lateral surface 413 of the protrudent unit 41. The first lateral surface 412 is oblique, and the sliding length of the protrusion 31 along the first lateral surface 412 is greater than that of the protrusion 31 along the second lateral surface 413. When the tray 20 is pushed to be inserted into the containing part 11, the first lateral surface 412 stops the protrusion 31 to drive the end of the movable element 30 having the protrusion 31 to rotate toward a first direction (such as leftward or rightward). Thus, the protrusion 31 can slide along the first lateral surface 412 to guide the protrusion 31 in moving in the track 42 relatively, such that the protrusion 31 can be guided to relatively move to the stopping portion 414 again.

The concave corner in the embodiments can be formed by a third lateral surface 416 and a fourth lateral surface 417. The third lateral surface 416 is oblique, and the sliding length of the protrusion 31 along the third lateral surface 416 is greater than that of the protrusion 31 along the fourth lateral surface 417. When the tray 20 is pulled to be extracted from the containing part 11, the protrusion 31 contacts the fourth lateral surface 417 and is stopped by the fourth lateral surface 417. Then the end of the movable element 30 having the protrusion 31 is driven to rotate toward a second direction (such as downward or leftward) and the protrusion 31 is made to slide along the fourth lateral surface 417 and to relatively move in the track 42. Therefore, the tray 20 can be extracted from the containing part 11 via the restoring force of the elastic element.

The structures of the first guiding portion 410 and the stopping portion 414

The guiding surfaces are used to limit the route of the protrusion 31, respectively, to drive the movable element 30 to properly rotate toward the first direction or the second direction. Thus, when the tray 20 is pushed to be inserted into the containing part 11, the protrusion 31 moves in the track 42, sliding from the first guiding portion 410 to the stopping portion 414. When the tray 20 is pulled to be extracted from the containing part 11, the protrusion 31 moves in the track 42, leaving away from the stopping portion 414 to make the elastic element 50 release the restoring force. Therefore, the tray 20 is extracted from the containing part 11.

FIGS. 4A-4J are exploded diagrams showing positions of the protrusion 31 moving in the track 42 when the tray 20 is slidingly extracted from or inserted into the containing part 11 according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. In FIG. 1, FIG. 3, and FIGS. 4A-4J, the inner wall 400 of the guiding groove 40 includes at least two first guiding surfaces 401, 401′ corresponding to each other up and down, two second guiding surfaces 402, 402′ corresponding to each other up and down, and a second guiding portion 44.

In FIGS. 4A-4B, the two first guiding surfaces 401, 401′ are oblique and form an angle outwards. The angle may be a positioning portion 43. When the tray 20 is pulled to be extracted from the containing part 11, the positioning portion 43 can hold the protrusion 31 before the tray 20 is inserted into the containing part 11. In addition, according to the sliding direction of the tray 20, the angle of the positioning portion 43 uprightly faces to the first lateral surface 412 of the concave corner. Therefore, when the tray 20 is inserted into the containing part 11, and the protrusion 31 relatively moves according to the sliding direction of the tray 20, the protrusion 31 can be prevented from contacting the second lateral surface 413 and being incorrectly guided by the second lateral surface 413.

In FIG. 4C, the two second guiding surfaces 402, 402′ are parallel to each other, and they are disposed at two sides of the protrudent unit 41, respectively. One end of the second guiding surfaces 402, 402′ is connected to one end of the first guiding surfaces 401 or 401′, and the second guiding surfaces 402, 402′ form parallel sections 45, 45′ with the corresponding protrudent unit 41, respectively. The parallel sections 45, 45′ connect the first guiding portion 410 and the stopping portion 414.

Therefore, when the tray 20 is pushed to be inserted into the containing part 11, the protrusion 31 is guided by the upper first guiding surface 401 and relatively moves along the upper parallel section 45. According to the sliding direction of the tray 20, the upper second guiding surface 402 guides the protrusion 31 in relatively moving in the track 42 continually to contact the upper portion of a third guiding surface 403.

Similarly, in FIG. 4J, when the tray 20 is pulled to be extracted from the containing part 11, the protrusion 31 relatively moves along the lower parallel section 45′ according to the sliding direction of the tray 20. The lower parallel section 45′ can guide the protrusion 31 in uprightly contacting the lower first guiding surface 401′ to return to the positioning portion 43.

The second guiding portion 44 has the upper portion of the third guiding surface 403, the upper portion of a fourth guiding surface 404, and the lower portion of a fifth guiding surface 405. In FIGS. 4D-4E, one end of the third guiding surface 403 is connected to one end of the upper second guiding surface 402, and the other end extends toward the lower second guiding surface 402′ and away from the stopping portion 414. Therefore, when the tray 20 is inserted into the containing part 11, the protrusion 31 guided by the upper second guiding surface 402 relatively moves, and then the third lateral surface 416 contacts and presses the protrusion 31 to drive one end of the movable element 30 having the protrusion 31 to rotate toward the second direction. Thus, the protrusion 31 can face to the third lateral surface 416 of the stopping portion 414, and the situation that the protrusion 31 slides back to the positioning portion 43 via the upper parallel section 45 since it fails to contact the third lateral surface 416 after the force of pushing the tray 20 disappears can be prevented.

In FIGS. 4E-4F, the fourth guiding surface 404 is adjacent to the third guiding surface 403 and the third lateral surface 416, and it is parallel to the sliding direction of the tray 20. The fourth guiding surface 404 and the fifth guiding surface 405 form a protrudent block 441 which faces to the stopping portion 414. Thus, when the protrusion 31 passes the parallel section 45 and the third guiding surface 403 along the first guiding portion 410 to contact the fourth guiding surface 404, and after the force of pushing the tray 20 disappears, the protrusion 31 is between the third lateral surface 416 and the fourth lateral surface 417 of the stopping portion 414 (as shown in FIGS. 4F-4G) via the restoring force of the elastic element 50 and the limitation of the protrudent block 441.

In FIGS. 4H-4I, one end of the fifth guiding surface 405 is connected to one end of the fourth guiding surface 404 adjacent to the third lateral surface 416, and the other end extends toward the oblique direction of the fourth guiding surface 404.

Therefore, when the tray 20 is pulled to make the protrusion 31 leave away from the stopping portion 414, the fifth guiding surface 405 contacts and presses the protrusion 31 to drive one end of the movable element 30 having the protrusion 31 to rotate toward the second direction until the protrusion 31 can face to the lower first guiding surface 401′. The protrusion 31 uprightly contacts the lower first guiding surface 401′ and returns to the positioning portion 43 via the restoring force of the elastic element 50 and the guiding of the lower parallel section 45′.

In addition, the second guiding portion 44 has a sixth guiding surface 406 between the third guiding surface 403 and the fourth guiding surface 404 and a seventh guiding surface 407 between the fifth guiding surface 405 and the lower second guiding surface 402′. Thus, the protrusion 31 can smoothly cooperate with the third guiding surface 403 or the fourth guiding surface 404 to relatively move.

In addition, according to the above, the fixed bracket 10 has at least one long opening 131 in one surface thereof parallel to the sliding direction of the tray 20. The tray 20 has a protrudent pole 201 corresponding to the long opening 131. Thus, when the tray 20 slides in the containing part 11, the protrudent pole 201 passes through the corresponding long opening 131 and slides along the long opening 131 to successfully guide the tray 20 in sliding.

The connection between the movable element 30 and the fixed bracket 10 or the tray 20 in the invention is not limited to the pivotal connection. The movable element 30 may also be a metal sheet, and the protrusion 31 is disposed at one edge of the movable element 30. The protrusion 31 can slide along the track 42 circularly via the restoring characteristic of the metal sheet.

Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, the disclosure is not for limiting the scope of the invention. Persons having ordinary skill in the art may make various modifications and changes without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred embodiments described above. 

1. A mobile rack comprising: a fixed bracket having a containing part; a tray disposed in the containing part for carrying an object, the tray being capable of being slidingly extracted from or inserted into the containing part; at least one elastic element connecting the fixed bracket and the tray; a movable element disposed at one of surfaces of the fixed bracket and the tray and having a protrusion; and a guiding part disposed at the other surface of the fixed bracket and the tray and opposite the movable element, the guiding groove including a protrudent unit and a track, the track surrounding the protrudent unit, the protrusion being inserted into the track and sliding along the protrudent unit, the protrudent unit having a first guiding portion and a stopping portion, when the tray is pushed to be inserted into the containing part, the elastic element being compressed and deformed to store a restoring force, and the protrusion sliding along the first guiding portion until being against the stopping portion thus to stop the elastic element releasing the restoring force; when the tray is pulled to be extracted from the containing part, the protrusion leaving away from the stopping portion to make the elastic element release the restoring force, thus making the tray extracted from the containing part.
 2. The mobile rack according to claim 1, wherein the first guiding portion is at one end of the protrudent unit away from an opening of the containing part, and the stopping portion is at one end of the protrudent unit adjacent to the opening of the containing part.
 3. The mobile rack according to claim 2, wherein the first guiding portion is a convex corner of the protrudent unit protruding toward the direction away from the opening of the containing part.
 4. The mobile rack according to claim 3, wherein the convex corner is formed by a first lateral surface and a second lateral surface of the protrudent unit, the sliding length of the protrusion along the first lateral surface is greater than that of the protrusion along the second lateral surface, and when the tray is pushed to be inserted into the containing part, the protrusion slides along the first lateral surface.
 5. The mobile rack according to claim 1, wherein the stopping portion is a concave corner of the protrudent unit recessed toward the direction away from the opening of the containing part.
 6. The mobile rack according to claim 5, wherein the concave corner is formed by a third lateral surface and a fourth lateral surface of the protrudent unit, the sliding length of the protrusion along the third lateral surface is greater than that of the protrusion along the fourth lateral surface, and when the tray is pulled to be extracted from the containing part, the protrusion slides along the fourth lateral surface.
 7. The mobile rack according to claim 1, wherein the movable element is disposed at the tray, and the guiding groove is disposed at the fixed bracket.
 8. The mobile rack according to claim 1, wherein the movable element is disposed at the fixed bracket, and the guiding groove is disposed at the tray.
 9. The mobile rack according to claim 1, wherein an inner wall of the guiding groove has a positioning portion, and when the tray is pulled to be extracted from the containing part, the protrusion is against the positioning portion.
 10. The mobile rack according to claim 9, wherein the inner wall of the guiding groove has two first guiding surfaces, an angle is formed between the first guiding surfaces to form the positioning portion, and the angle faces to the first guiding portion according to the sliding direction of the tray.
 11. The mobile rack according to claim 9, wherein when the tray is pushed to be inserted into the containing part, the protrusion moves from the positioning portion to the first guiding portion.
 12. The mobile rack according to claim 1, wherein the track comprises two parallel sections connecting the first guiding portion and the stopping portion.
 13. The mobile rack according to claim 12, wherein an inner wall of the guiding groove has two second guiding surfaces to form the parallel sections with the protrudent unit.
 14. The mobile rack according to claim 12, wherein an inner wall of the guiding groove has a second guiding portion, the second guiding portion faces to the stopping portion and has a protrudent block, and when the protrusion slides toward the stopping portion along the first guiding portion via the parallel section, the protrudent block limits the route of the protrusion to make the protrusion be against the stopping portion.
 15. The mobile rack according to claim 1, wherein one surface of the fixed bracket parallel to the sliding direction of the tray has at least one long opening, the tray has at least one protrudent pole corresponding to the long opening, and the protrudent pole passes through the corresponding long opening and can slide along the long opening.
 16. The mobile rack according to claim 1, wherein one end of the movable element is pivotally connected to one of the surfaces of the fixed bracket or the tray facing to each other, and the other end has the protrusion capable of rotating around the end. 